Senate
Politics and government play a vital role in the development of your society. As such, a senate, being where the ruling family may confer with its subjects, is a vital part of your infrastructure. Senates are important for several reasons. Firstly, where a senate is built will determine where your capital will be set up. A capital will exert a slight boost upon your borders, and will also act as the spawn point of your patriot unit. At each stage in the development of your faction, you will also be allowed to choose one of two self-exclusive technologies at your senate; each one representing a totalitarian or libertarian stance towards government. To research a government, select your senate, and then click the icons representing your choice government. Apart from effecting some changes to your faction's abilities, the new government technology you researched will also grant you a patriot unit (which represents the ruler of your people) and may even unlock new units. Dark Age governments Urban Corporation *Grants access to the Burgher patriot unit *Increased commerce cap Researching Urban Corporation will relinquish your control over land and the armies that you recruit. However, you will discover the amount of resources you may receive from your estates will be increased, given the gravitation of skilled craftsmen to your lands seeking to flee tyranny and death in battle! Feudalism *Grants access to the Duke patriot unit *Cheaper barracks units Researching Feudalism centralises your control over your faction's lands. While this results in some corruption and inefficiency resulting from a hierarchy, you can be assured however that your hold on your military is secure enough that their loyalty will be much cheaper to purchase. Castle Age governments Republic *Grants access to the Doge patriot unit *Cheaper library research Monarchy *Grants access to the Monarch patriot unit *Cheaper Stable units Imperial Era governments Legalism *Grants access to the Legislator patriot unit *Caravan limit is increased by 2 *Peasant levy deal extra damage to cavalry, dependent on the number of nobles' courts throughout your land. *Grants access to Brigs and Covered Swoopers (except for Portugal,Sicily and Andalus) Absolutism *Grants access to the Autocrat patriot unit *Faster production for units produced at Dock and Siege Workshop *Nobles' courts spawn free heavy cavalry when built *Grants access to Lantern Galleys and South Sea Junks (except for Portugal, England, Spain, France, Denmark, Scotland, and Sweden) Note, however, that you need to be careful with your capital, as in some games, you will lose if your opponent captures your capital and holds it successfully as his own for a limited amount of time, so careful placement of your senate or capital can make a difference between victory or defeat. France, unlike other factions, can research government technologies for free. As later government upgrades are rather costly, this can be quite a useful boon. The Welsh have the ability to build senates for free and instantly too, so this means that in most games, you have quite a bit of leeway on where to set up your capital. If you find a very strategic and defensive position, you can then place your senate there to move your capital from its previous position. The Polans are granted the ability to erect two capitals instead of one thanks to the Power of Liberty; the second city erected by them will always function as one of their capitals. If a senate is built in this second capital, the other capital will always be the last city which was designated as a capital before either this second city or its senate was constructed. Both capitals will have to be captured to eliminate you. Category:Structures